The Millennials Have Arrived!

Millennials, aka Gen Y, aka Pure Awesomeness. At this point, everyone knows who we are. You either love or hate us, but one thing is for sure, we have changed the face of business and taken the world by storm. By the time you read this, I am certain you have been touched by something created by a millennial. We millennials demand quick and easy access to everything at all times and, even if you think we are cocky and arrogant, you can’t deny we are changing your life.

CRE – Dinosaur Industry

I’m a millennial working in a dinosaur industry, commercial real estate (CRE). Though we have switched to online listings instead of paper handouts, we still lack numerous amenities residential agents use. Our CRE listings are few with even fewer pictures, diagrams and facts. Commercial agents stillsay, “See Agent.” It’s the 21stcentury and you’re telling me I need to call you for information on a property? What about texting? With our shorthand and abbreviations, we are quick and get right to the point. Why have a five minute phone call when we can text for less than 30 seconds? Peter Dumaine, another Millennial CRE agent with Sperry Van Ness | Graham, Langlois & Legendre, made a great point when he said that “In a time when technology runs almost every facet of business, it’s interesting to step into a career where technology is just starting to pick up and be utilized.” I couldn’t agree more.

Technology in the CRE Industry

This is where the next wave of young professionals are demanding more, specifically, more technology. With more CRE listing websites, social media and online blogs such as Rofo, theBrokersList, Costar and Loopnet, the CRE information highway is being built. Though we still lack the apps to support the push towards a full information tech overhaul, I have faith these websites will catch on and catch up. However, my next request for the dinosaur I work with is to simplify the viewing process.

Drones & Lock Boxes

I work in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and though drone use is a fairly new thing in real estate, their value is undeniable. The ability for a client see the exterior of a building without having to do a drive by saves a client time and they will love you for it. However, video tours are unheard of in Baton Rouge CRE right now. Residential agents use them, but we don’t.Why? Both of these can help our clients take a look and weed out a building much quicker than wasting time for a visit. Lastly, digital lock boxes can transform our industry. Though it is an added expense to cover as an agent, driving to your office to get a key is a complete waste of time.

With all the technology we millennials grew up with, professional millennials demand time efficiency. We know every app, program and device to help us get things done. Are other millennial CRE agents wondering the same things? I know we have to pay our “dues” but we can teach this old dog of CRE some new tricks.

Getting Reviews in the CRE World

Speaking of time efficiency, millennials are also really great at figuring out who the industry leaders are. Word of mouth is no longer good enough. We like reviews; reviews by real people with real experience. Some fear one bad client review will drive their rating down. While that is a valid fear, millennials are smart and can figure it out if that’s the case. Plus, if we can’t, we will straight up ask you. We tend to be direct like that. We have all heard the saying, “everyone has an opinion and opinions are like [fill in the blank here ☺].” However, opinionsarereviews and we like to hear from someone who doesn’t have a personal, vested interest in you. Can we get a Yelp for CRE agents? Who is going to start that app?

Information in the Age of Millennials

In the end, millennials are changinghowyou do business. Like it or not, we are the future of business and we are here to stay. Interpersonal communication is important, as are hand written cards on occasion, but my overall goal is to get my clients the information they want more quickly. We all know “time can kill a deal,” that’s real life. So, let’s all get aboard the information highway in CRE and zoom along like the rest of the world.

Thank you for reading this post. If you found it interesting, please share the following tweet. =)

Kathryn G. Juneau

After breaking into Commercial Real Estate in 2011, Kathryn became licensed in 2013 and began specializing in senior housing. In 2014 Kathryn became and Advisor with Sperry Van Ness | Graham, Langlois & Legendre, LLC. She has represented large users of medical and industrial space in an array of real estate transactions. Kathryn’s reputation of tenaciously protecting her clients’ interest, savvy negotiations and cutting edge marketing strategies has built her a solid foundation of corporate clients through her real estate advisory services. To contact Kathryn, you can email her at [email protected], call her at 225-367-1515 or follow SVN | GLL on Twitter at @svngll.

Excellent article Kathryn. We enjoyed reading it when it was published on your website, and are happy to see it again here on theBrokerList blog. The Millennial topic has really been showing up a good bit more lately, and it’s good to see how it relates to the commercial real estate industry. Well done!

We welcome you to our blog Kathryn and love this blog and the topic of millennials. We hope you continue on this theme and share more of your insight. It is an outstanding blog for our audience and we are so proud to share it! Thanks again for joining our community!

We “not Millenials” are not necessarily the dinosaurs you believe and the CRE industry is not as stuck in the mud as all that either. We know how to email, text, etc. We know how to use electronic signatures. We know the appropriate use of technology and rich media. The important word there is “appropriate.”

Much of the time I will want to include everything you need to evaluate a listing. Sometimes I want to talk to someone that has made it past the initial filter of the information I provide, so I will intentionally leave out data. As you may have learned in your two years of commercial real estate experience CRE is rarely linear, always nuanced and sometimes the best way to approach property and deals is that five minute conversation.

Why do we provide listing information? Partially to sell or lease property. If it is info to other brokers it should be enough to make sure the property is included in the consideration for a client. Or to look at it another way, to not be eliminated – which is different in several ways. But if it is for a – prospective – client it is to be the first step in a broker-client relationship. Too much information, like a video/drone tour, creates the opportunity to eliminate the property and by so doing eliminates the need to contact the broker. Big fail on the purpose of promotion. Keep in mind that brokers are in two businesses. One is the business of working with clients to make deals. The other is the business of business and developing a clientele. Or as the dinosaurs would put it, a pipeline.

I do agree with the idea of digital lockboxes to a degree. However, I believe I am the best person to show my listings and want to be there for each showing. That is part of my professional value-add (and in my experience there are lots of agents that do not show property well). I also need to report to my client about showings and the best way to understand the client response is to be there when they see the space. If it is a matter of simple access, I agree that driving around to get/deliver keys is not productive. But there are good reasons to not have simple access to property.

As a long time user of on-line listing services I can tell you that unless owned by the user base (like some residential multiple listing services) they are not in business to provide you with a service. They are in business to make money for themselves and their investors. LoopNet started as a decent on-line multiple listing service. Although you may not have been in the business long enough to have direct experience of them you may know that as soon as they were acquired by CoStar (who also started as a much more user-friendly company) they, in my opinion, became incredibly predatory and raised fees (by a lot) to get brokers to switch to more profitable services. Look at any of the social media companies and you will see the same progression.

By the way, Millenials really don’t know “every” app, program and device to help get things done. Once you commit to any given platform your knowledge becomes obsolescent overnight and obsolete by next month. The only perennial knowledge is knowledge of process and relationship. That is also something we dinosaurs know.

Kathryn – Always glad to see someone questioning the status quo. 20 years ago, I was the “20-something” trying to convince the CRE industry that websites and email were actually an innovation they were going to have to accept. And yes, there was pushback, but we got there. And now websites have gone mobile and email is facing challenges with Slack and other communication systems. Keep on pushing that envelope, it’s very much in the SVN DNA.

Thanks for stopping by Diane, it is an honor to have you here and leave a comment. We love this blog that Kathryn has done and we have asked her to keep up the good work! Love to hear from the SVN Advisors!!

Diane, As you know, our world is constantly evolving. I believe as CRE agents we should be constantly evolving too. Not only for the benefit of our clients but for ourselves. I appreciate the encouragement and I can promise, I’ll continue pushing. KJ